Perfect balance: Annabel Croft on her “obsession” with red meat

The sparkle of sequins on a Saturday night can mean only one thing - Strictly season is here! With the new series now in full swing, it feels particularly special to chat with one of the show’s latest stars.

Former tennis player Annabel Croft, who just missed out on a place in last year’s fab-u-lous final, won over the hearts of the nation with her graceful routines and adorable partnership with professional dancer Johannes Radebe. Whether she was jiving or foxtrotting, week after week, Annabel was complemented on her commitment to training and her athleticism – something that, she says, would have been difficult to achieve without having a diet rich in red meat and protein.

“I’m a massive advocate for meat,” she said. “We’ve always been meat eaters; we eat meat pretty much every day. I am really quite obsessed with it, actually.”

What she’s equally obsessed with is something she calls the “caveman style” diet; a diet made up of those basic, unprocessed/minimally processed food stuffs that people have been eating for millenia. These foods were a staple in her Strictly regime and, like any professional athlete, protein tops the list of her essential ingredients.

In the morning, before rehearsals, she would have “clean cut” bacon and eggs, a salad with some form of protein for lunch, and then finish the day (preferably) with a steak – ribeye being her cut of choice. Whilst she admits she isn’t particularly strict about her diet; she does have one rule that she is regimented about: absolutely no added sugars in her meat.

She explained: “I am particular about what I put into my body, and I go out of my way to eat food that isn’t overly processed, that is organic. Over the last year I have learned a lot about nutrition and red meat’s healing powers for the body, and that’s why it is an important part of my diet.”

“We’ve always been meat eaters; we eat meat pretty much every day. I am really quite obsessed with it, actually.”

In May last year, Annabel’s husband of 30 years, Mel, passed away of stomach cancer. As a tribute to Mel, and as part of her Strictly journey, Annabel performed a lyrical, contemporary routine to Birdy’s Wings that left judges and audience speechless, with tears in their eyes and a lump in their throat.

Annabel tells me about the doctor who worked with her husband following his diagnosis, Dr. Isabella Cooper: “She’s so passionate about fuelling yourself on fat, and the power that red meat can provide your body. Our modern diet is full of sugar, and it is causing a lot of the major health problems we’re experiencing. Meat can solve a lot of these issues.”

“Some of these diets couldn’t be more wrong for the human body. In fact, a lot of ailments can be solved with meat and fats from good quality meat.”

Like many within the meat industry, Annabel is frustrated about the amount of misinformation circulating in mainstream media surrounding meat’s impact on human health. She explained: “The narratives certain media outlets push around veganism and the detrimental impact of meat eating are just shocking. Some of these diets couldn’t be more wrong for the human body. In fact, a lot of ailments can be solved with meat and fats from good quality meat.”

That is why she is looking forward to being “among her crowd” at the Women In Meat Industry Awards: “Meat eating is something I am passionate about, and so I am really looking forward to November, to being surrounded by likeminded people and celebrating the incredible achievement of women in the meat industry.”